An excellent turnout of hardy Petanque players from as far away as Wales, braved the snow & cold to play in the Rayne Swan Money Doubles on Sunday 6th April.
The morning session was played in a league format with the top two from each group progressing to the main competition in the afternoon.
Local players Lorne Gibson & Dave Mark won all their games against strong opposition to finish top of their group.
The Welsh team of Ian Bailey & Pete Westall finished runners-up in group 4 to Dean Little & Keith Flack from Towers PC, South Weald, pushing John Edmondson & Joe Sheffield from Leicester into third and a place in the Plate competition. Another Towers pair to do well was Eric Taylor & Tim McConnon who topped group 2 unbeaten.
In the afternoon, although the snow showers had ceased, it was bitterly cold but there were still some excellent games to be had.
Adam Buxton & Frank Britt played well all day and defeated McConnon & Taylor in the first round of the knock out stages and then Simon Doble & Alan Brazier 13-2 in the semi final to meet Little & Flack in the final.
The dynamic duo from Towers had defeated Gibson & Mark and then the Welsh team to reach the final.
Suddenly Buxton & Britt’s form dipped and they lost 6 on the first end which they couldn’t recover from, and Flack’s precision pointing wrapped up the game for the Towers pair 13-4 and the jackpot of £130.

The Plate competition was won by Adrian Emson & Myra Huntley from Hertfordshire who won all their games in the afternoon, with the Leicester pair of Edmondson & Sheffield taking second place.
In the Consolage PYC2 from Suffolk were the clear winners as they went through the afternoon unbeaten. With 6pm fast approaching and over 6 hours of play, the final place of runners-up spot in the consolage was still being fought for by three teams. It was eventually won on points difference by Trevor Turner & Jon Sellars.
Many thanks to the sponsors of the event Mr & Mrs Roy House, Rayne Swan & Mrs R Lingard, Fairfax Motors.